https://www.discogs.com/master/85913-The-Millennium-Begin/image/SW1hZ2U6NDY2MzI2MA==

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

662) The Millennium — “To Claudia on Thursday”

Sunshine pop went supernova with the Millennium (see #397, 506, 586), a 60’s sunshine supergroup that created Begin, the greatest sunshine pop album ever recorded. Begin cost more to make than any other album from ’68 other than The Beatles (the White Album)— and no one buys it (at least until era of CD reissues). As Richie Unterberger writes, it was “at once too unabashedly commercial for underground FM radio and too weird for the AM dial.” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-millennium-mn0000814312) For more on the Millennium and Curt Boettcher, see #396.

“Claudia” is an utterly beguiling love song, expressing the songwriter’s love for the self-same girl, and advocating that she just live in the moment and not “give a thought to anything in the world but you and me.” As Matthew Greenwald writes:

A delicious slice of near-perfect mid-’60s pop, “To Claudia on Thursday” was inspired by producer Curt Boettcher’s wife, Claudia. Overflowing with some amazing counterpoint harmonies, the song’s melody is pop-based, and includes a great folk-inspired core, especially on Joey Stec’s flowing acoustic rhythm guitar. Like many of the Begin album songs, there is a certain psychedelic spirit to the whole affair, yet this song has dated extremely well.

https://www.allmusic.com/song/to-claudia-on-thursday-mt0034798980

Co-writer Stec says that the song “was a nice thought on a nice day, a song to make Curt’s pregnant wife feel better”. (liner notes to The Millennium Magic Time: The Millennium/Ballroom Recordings)

And DJ D-Mac adds that “Riding over the baroque instrumental arrangement are rich vocal harmonies delivering the kind of polished pop melody that could only be born of veteran songwriting craftsmanship. Simply stunning yet inexplicably obscure.” (http://www.djdmac.com/blog/song-day-millennium-claudia-thursday/)

I think that gives me a great hashtag for my blog — #simplystunningyetinexplicablyobscure. Thanks, DJ D-Mac!!!

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

661) The Royal Guardsmen — “Wednesday”

Such a groovy Wednesday — not! This Byrdsy ’67 A-side and track off The Return of the Red Baron (with the title “Any Wednesday”) about trying to forget an unfaithful girl is no “Snoopy Vs. the Red Baron”. The song only reached #98, with bassist Bill Balogh lamenting that it “didn’t do anything . . . . [because n]o one seemed to want to hear The Royal Guardsmen do anything other than Snoopy. The guy who wrote [it] was a staff writer they had writing for us.” (https://www.crazedfanboy.com/spotlight/guardsmen.html). Curse you, Red Baron!

As to the RG, William Ruhlmann writes that:

The Royal Guardsmen from Ocala, FL . . . enjoyed their brief reign of pop fame in 1966-1968 by recording a series of songs taking off from the Peanuts cartoon character Snoopy and his fantasy about aerial dog fighting with German World War I flying ace Baron Von Richthofen. The million-selling “Snoopy Vs. the Red Baron” was the first and most successful of these novelty records in the fall of 1966, and its follow-up, “The Return of the Red Baron,” also made the Top 40. “Snoopy’s Christmas” topped the seasonal charts at the end of 1967. After a few non-Snoopy singles were less successful, the Guardsmen released “Snoopy for President” in the summer of 1968, but the fad was over. The group scored a final Top 40 hit with its two-year-old, reissued debut single, “Baby Let’s Wait,” in the winter of 1968-1969. The original group split in 1969 . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-royal-guardsmen-mn0000490805/biography

Classic Bands adds that:

In the mid-to-late ’60s, Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip was at its peak of popularity. . . . The unexpected focal point of the strip was Charlie Brown’s beagle Snoopy, who evolved into less of a pet than a voice of conscience. One of the recurring themes of the Snoopy strips was his fantasy exploits as a World War I flying ace trying to defeat Baron Von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron. His doghouse doubled as a Sopwith Camel biplane. . . .

By January 1967, [“Snoopy vs. the Red Barron”] had peaked at #2 . . . selling over three million copies worldwide. . . . Trying to be taken more seriously, The Guardsmen issued a series of non-Snoopy singles, all of which flopped. “Airplane Song (My Airplane)” stalled at #46 in the Summer of ’67, followed by “Wednesday”, which only made it to #98 during a one week chart run that September. . . .

http://www.classicbands.com/royalguardsmen.html

Oh, and as organist Billy Taylor recalls, “[w]hen we were kids . . . all you wanted was a hot shower every now and then, a hamburger, and to get laid. That’s all you were thinking about on the bus.” (https://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/music/Royal-Guardsmen-return-Snoopy-in-tow-50-years-after-Florida-s-first-pop-hit_167682029/)

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

660) The Mellow Yellow — “Tuesday”

Not released until it appeared on the grand Come Join My Orchestra: The British Baroque Pop Sound 1967-1973 comp, this song of longing for a girl named Tuesday feels like sleeping in Egyptian cotton sheets. It is that luxurious. Come on, it only has 68 views on YouTube. Be a friend to Tuesday!!!

The Come Join My Orchestra liner notes tell us:

Who the Mellow Yellow were is anyone’s guess, although they appparently come from the Hertfordshire town as of Hatfield — also home to Donovan [get it?!] . . . . [Tuesday is a] perfectly commercial harmony pop effort[] with an agreeable Byrds/Beau Brummels influence . . . . [a] breezy summer pop-charmer . . . .

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

659) Original Caste — “Mr. Monday”

I don’t like Mondays, but Mr. Monday would disagree. From Calgary comes this soaring pop nastygram to go-getters. It was a huge hit in Medicine Hat . . . and San Antonio. Go figure.

Ray McGinnis:

In 1966 Bruce Innes met a singing trio in Calgary called the North Country Singers: Dixie Lee Stone, Bliss Mackie and Graham Bruce. . . . By 1967 Innes had joined them . . . . In 1968 the group . . . moved to Los Angeles, and changed their name to the Original Caste.*. . . From the[ir] album came a single titled “One Tin Soldier”. . . . [which] sold well in Canada** . . . . On [its] strength . . . the Original Caste began to tour extensively. . . . [The] followup single . . . “Mr. Monday”. . . . [was] co-written by . . . Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. . . . [whose] biggest success was producing “Rhinestone Cowboy” for Glen Campbell . . . . [I]n the song, Mr. Monday can’t spare a dime or the time. . . . But he has his eye of the prize: a pot of gold. . . . [It] peaked at #1 in Kingston (ON), #2 in Medicine Hat (AB), #3 in Vancouver (BC), Edmonton (AB) and Toronto, #4 in Calgary (AB), #5 in Pointe Claire (PQ), #6 in Victoria (BC) and Stevens Point (WI), #9 in Sydney (NS), #10 in Hamilton (ON) and #18 in San Antonio (TX). . . .

https://vancouversignaturesounds.com/hits/mr-monday-by-the-original-caste/

Bill Dahl notes that “although it didn’t chart stateside, ‘Mr. Monday’ was an even bigger seller north of the border . . . than “One Tin Soldier,” peaking at #4 [with “One Tin Soldier reaching #6].” (liner notes to the One Tin Soldier CD reissue)

* Bruce Innes: “Someone at Dot records : . . . presented us with three or four different names. It’s hard to imagine that it seemed the least stupid now, but that did seem the least stupid at the time.” (liner notes to the One Tin Soldier CD reissue)

** Bill Dahl notes that the Caste “saw an inferior cover inserted into the soundtrack of the ’71 movie smash Billy Jack. . . . [Bruce Innes recalls that “w]e were pretty good friends with Tom Laughlin . . . . [W]hen he was cutting Billy Jack together, he’d just play our album. But somehow our management team and he couldn’t get it figured out, so he ended up just hiring another producer and getting that band Coven . . . and recut it.” (liner notes to the One Tin Soldier CD reissue)

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

658) Leviathan (The Mike Stuart Span) — “Through the Looking Glass”

Glorious late-60’s UK heavy psych from the Mike Stuart Span (see #225, 268) for John Peel, done even better a year later by the same band with a name change ordered by its new label. And then the label president wouldn’t even release the song (or album). Talk about being sunk by a big white whale. Well, call me Ishmael!

Steve Elliott opines that “a holdover from their Mike Stuart Span days, ‘Through the Looking Glass’ was re-recorded . . . to excellent effect using stinging, driving guitar with the full-throttle sonic force of the band.” (https://m.facebook.com/mssleviathan/posts/review-24leviathan-leviathan-the-legendary-lost-elektra-album-2016by-steve-ellio/1348349631897901/?locale=zh_TW&_rdr)

David Wells (as always) plumbs the songs’ depths:

Largely . . . the intended album comprised ramped-up re-workings of late -period Span material like “Through the Looking Glass”, a song that the band had premiered more than a year earlier during their John Peel session. Stuart Hobday remembers the inspiration for the song’s opening lines extremely well. “We were driving down to the West Country after a gig in Southampton the night before. It was about nine o’clock in the morning, very misty and autumnal. We were driving past this area of forest, and this phrase came to me . . . ‘Shades of autumn in the morning mist’. I wrote it down somewhere and later built it into a song.”

(liner notes to Leviathan : The Legendary Lost Album)

As to Leviathan, Richie Unterberger says:

Although inaugurated in December 1968, Leviathan evolved out of UK, Brighton-based pop unit, the Mike Stuart Span. . . . Signed to Elektra Records, the renamed quartet’s first two singles were issued as a package in April 1969. Dubbed ‘The Four Faces Of Leviathan’, each song deliberately showed contrasting musical styles, but this ambitious idea failed to generate the anticipated enthusiasm.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/leviathan-mn0002071342

And Ian Canty:

Luckily a deal with US label Elektra, home of the Doors and Love amongst others, came out of the blue on the proviso that the group’s name be changed to the more 1969 sounding Leviathan. Though not that enamoured with the new moniker (and the decision on this came right from the top, from none other than Jac Holzman, Elektra president), the band generally welcomed this unexpected upswing in fortune. [The album] is a beaut. Though looked upon as a change from the “Psychedelic” Mike Stuart Span to a more “Progressive” sound, it’s not a startling alteration of style. Leviathan do occasionally fall back on the kind of “Blues” jamming that tended to rule in Blighty at the time – but for the most part inventive, catchy Heavy Psych/late period Freakbeat is the order of the day.

http://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2017/01/leviathan-legendary-lost-elektra-album.html

But then, and I think I’m going to blubber, per Steve Elliott:

[T]heir lone album was held back from release at the last minute by Elektra president Jac Holzman, who supposedly wasn’t happy with some of the songs and wanted them to go back into the studio to record more. At that critical point, with their finances in dire straits and their morale destroyed by this action after years of trying to make it, Leviathan broke up. . . .

https://m.facebook.com/mssleviathan/posts/review-24leviathan-leviathan-the-legendary-lost-elektra-album-2016by-steve-ellio/1348349631897901/?locale=zh_TW&_rdr

Here is Leviathan:

Here is the Mike Stuart Span’s version on the BBC:

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

657) Evie Sands — “Crazy Annie”

“Crazy Annie”, beautiful, soulful and full of personality, is “Midnight Cowboy in a 3 minute song.” (Bill, https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/evie-sands-i-cant-let-go-what-a-hollies-ripoff.324039/page-2) Yes, that Midnight Cowboy, the iconic X-rated Dustin Hoffman/John Voight flick. As Alfiehitchie summarizes:

Texas greenhorn Joe Buck arrives in New York City for the first time. Preening himself as a real “hustler”, he finds that he is the one getting “hustled” until he teams up with down-and-out but resilient outcast Ratso Rizzo. The initial “country cousin meets city cousin” relationship deepens. In their efforts to bilk a hostile world rebuffing them at every turn, this unlikely pair progress from partners in shady business to comrades. Each has found his first real friend.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0064665/

Anyway, allan0318 says:

“Inspired” by the motion picture Midnight Cowboy, this is the song that SHOULD have made Evie Sands a star. Weird, strange tale of Crazy Annie (played by actress Jennifer Salt) and Joe (the Jon Voight character.) The song was written by Chip [“Wild Thing”] Taylor, whose real name is James Voight and who is actually Jon Voight’s brother. Wouldn’t you have loved to hear this in the movie? Another great sound from Muscle Shoals.

https://www.45cat.com/record/nc758838us

Yes, it should have made Evie a star. But, then again, it’s not her only song that should have made her a star!

Londonlee does a deep dive on the song:

[T]he same year [Midnight Cowboy] came out [Chip Taylor] produced the album “Any Way That You Want Me” for . . . Evie Sands which includes a song he wrote inspired by the film called “Crazy Annie.” The song is about Joe Buck’s hometown girlfriend Annie who only appears in the film in his daydreams and nightmares, including a particularly harrowing one where the two of them are gang-raped by local thugs and she gets carted off to a mental institution. It was a long while before I figured out exactly what happened in that scene . . . but it was all done in a trippy, hallucinatory style which was very late 60s . . . . It’s a beautiful song written from Annie’s point of view . . . using her few lines of dialogue in the movie as lyrics and rescues her from being a mere phantom in Joe’s memory and turns her into a real person who wasn’t crazy and is still in love with him. I can’t think of another example of someone writing a song about a minor character in a movie . . . .

https://www.londonlee.com/2008/06/youre-best-joe.html

Aquarian Drunkard says of the song that “suddenly, the mournfulness gives way to a big, transcendent chorus, a whole novel’s-worth of poignancy in Sands’ recitation of the deadpan lyric: ‘Crazy Annie was a good time/To a boy named Joe/Crazy Annie wasn’t crazy/No, no, no, no.'” (https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2016/02/22/evie-sands-any-way-that-you-want-me/)

The whole album is full of “glorious sunny pop soul” (londonlee) and Aquarian Drunkard calls it “one of the most sublime and strikingly gorgeous albums of the period. . . . a post-Dusty in Memphis, post-Bobbie Gentry work of art, brimming with all the Sing-Songwriter Soul that Laura Nyro could strive for.” (https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2016/02/22/evie-sands-any-way-that-you-want-me/)

As to Evie, Garwood Pickjon notes that “[b]eing somewhere between the soulful deliveries of the latter-day Dusty Springfield, and the melodic eclecticism of Carole King, with a touch of rootsy Americana, it’s not hard to see why Dusty herself, cites Evie Sands as her favourite female singer.” (https://popdiggers.com/evie-sands-anyway-that-you-want-me/)

Jason Ankeny tells us of Evie’s misadventures in the music industry:

Singer Evie Sands endured one of the more remarkable hard luck tales in pop music lore . . . . The Brooklyn-born Sands’ husky, soulful voice first attracted the attention of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller’s Blue Cat label in 1965, and upon signing with the company she entered the studio with the songwriting/production team of Chip Taylor and Al Gorgoni . . . to record her debut single, “Take Me for a Little While.” Prior to the record’s release, a test pressing was smuggled to executives at Chess Records, where Chicago soul singer Jackie Ross immediately cut her own version of the song . . . Chess’ marketing muscle assured that Ross’ cover began receiving the lion’s share of radio airplay . . . . The confusion and subsequent litigation severely hobbled Sands’ fledgling career, and her follow-up, 1966’s superb “I Can’t Let Go,” was lost in the mire; a year later, the song became a major international hit for the Hollies. Moving to the Cameo label, in 1967 Sands resurfaced with the Taylor -penned “Angel of the Morning”; despite heavy early airplay, within weeks of the single’s release Cameo went bankrupt, allowing Merilee Rush’s recording of the song to top the pop charts a few months later. In 1969 Sands finally notched a hit of her own with “Any Way That You Want Me,” also issuing an LP of the same name.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/evie-sands-mn0000154215/biography

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

656) The Leaves — “Too Many People”

Hey Joe, this “bluesy and funky slow drag number” (Woody Anders, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2022233/bio) was the Leaves’ first A-side (’65). And it is not about Yoko Ono!

Richie Unterberger says:

[It] was a substantial hit in the Los Angeles area in 1965, though it didn’t make a national dent. . . . Perhaps it may sound naïve in its catch-all protest against society telling you what to do and think and how to conform. But there’s an engaging, almost uplifting rebelliousness to its garage pop-blues swagger . . . . in tune with the mid-1965 zeitgeist of young people starting to buck against the establishment. . . . [and] a good example of protest folk-rock-influenced garage rock.

https://www.allmusic.com/song/too-many-people-mt0000329020

As to the Leaves, Unterberger notes that:

One of the first L.A. folk-rock groups to spring up in the wake of the Byrds in the mid-’60s, the Leaves are most remembered for recording the first . . . rock version[] of “Hey Joe,” which reached the Top 40 . . . in 1966. None of their other releases approached this success . . . . [T]hey . . . disbanded after a disappointing follow-up . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-leaves-mn0000091159

Bruce Eder adds that the band’s “music roughly paralleled that of the Byrds, but with some twists: though their music was also labeled as ‘folk-rock,’ the[y] were more obviously beholden to the Rolling Stones and the Beatles for some of their music, and generated a harder, somewhat heavier sound.” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bill-rinehart-mn0000076363)

“Too Many People” was co-written by Leaf Bill Rinehart, who also co-wrote yesterday’s “Elevator Operator”. Bruce Eder gives us the skinny on this unsung L.A. rock hero:

Guitarist/bassist/producer Bill Rinehart is a figure who seems to inhabit the background of a lot of history of Los Angeles bands of the mid- to late ’60s — he crops up across and adjacent to the stories of Emitt Rhodes, the Leaves, the Byrds . . . yet he never ascended to stardom in his own right. . . . He co-authored . . . “Too Many People[]” . . . and he was all over the resulting Hey Joe album, though the version of the latter song that was a hit for the group was recorded following his exit in 1966. . . . He spent a good chunk of 1967 connected to . . . the Gene Clark Group, put together to accompany . . . Clark in his solo performances, and the Merry-Go-Round [see #50, 156], formed by Emitt Rhodes . . . . The Clark group didn’t last too long, though some of their work was preserved on his debut solo album . . . . [B]y the time it came out, Rinehart was part of the Merry-Go-Round . . . . which was otherwise comprised of semi-professional musicians all, like Rhodes, in their mid-teens. He’d been brought in to shore up their instrumental sound, and was present on the singles “Live” and “You’re a Very Lovely Woman.” . . . [H]owever . . . the very attributes that got him hired also forced his exit . . . the age difference . . . . At 20, he was already a veteran with three years of playing professionally behind him . . . . He also made his first foray into producing that same year, when he helmed the Sonny & Cher’s single “A Beautiful Story” . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bill-rinehart-mn0000076363

Here they are live:

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

655) Gene Clark — “Elevator Operator”

The first “solo” album by the former Big Byrd contained this lovely “garage-rock ditty” that is “pure groove, jangle, and boogie” (Uncut, https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/gene-clark-with-the-gosdin-brothers-9923/), “features blatant drug double entendres and trippy harmonies” (Aphoristic, https://albumreviews.blog/reviews/1960s-reviews/gene-clark/) and “Revolver-era Beatles influence” (https://www.nodepression.com/album-reviews/gene-clark-with-the-gosdin-brothers-self-titled/).

The song’s “about a fickle woman who ‘could make you feel/that you were up to stay’ but then just as quickly ‘she took you down all the way’, was a clear standout on [the album].” (Michael Panontin, http://www.canuckistanmusic.com/index.php?maid=684) I love, love, love it, but Matthew Greenwald tells us that Clark hated it! —

A slightly nasty little rock song, “Elevator Operator” was one of Gene Clark’s least favorite songs from his solo debut album . . . . So much was his disdain for it that when the album was re-mixed and re-released in the early ’70s, he successfully lobbied Columbia to drop it from the album. While Clark certainly had a point here, the song does indeed have a certain period charm as a slightly psychedelic pop-rocker.

https://www.allmusic.com/song/elevator-operator-mt0006122315

As to Clark, Mark Deming tells us that:

[He] will always be best-known for his short stint as lead singer for the Byrds from 1964 to 1966 . . . . [He] helped invent country-rock with 1968’s Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers album [from which today’s song is taken], then teamed with Doug Dillard in the late ’60s to make two records that served as a blueprint for Americana. . . . Clark’s clear and true vocals, his poetic turns of phrase, and his skill at weaving melancholy melodies never wavered. . . . [L]ong after his passing in 1991, has remained influential to each new generation of jangle pop artists . . . .

Clark . . . [was in] the New Christy Minstrels, a well-scrubbed folk-pop ensemble . . . . However, [he] longed to perform his own songs and didn’t care for life on the road; after hearing the Beatles for the first time, Clark decided he wanted to form a rock band and he quit . . . and moved to Los Angeles. There, he met . . . [Roger] McGuinn . . . . Clark quickly became the Byrds’ dominant songwriter, penning most of their best-known originals . . . . [But] the combination of [his] dislike of traveling (including a fear of flying) and resentment that his songwriting income made him the best-paid member of the group led to tensions . . . and in 1966 Clark opted to leave . . . . [I]n 1967 he released his first solo set, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers, a pioneering fusion of country and rock.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/gene-clark-mn0000194036

No Depression adds that:

[Clark] infused the [Byrds] with much of its soul and vision, establishing himself as a pivotal folk-rock innovator . . . . Overwhelmed by demands of fame and tired of clashing with the contentious Crosby, Clark left the band in 1966; Byrds manager Jim Dickson landed him the Columbia contract that spawned this album. Recorded with the Byrds’ rhythm section of Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke, plus A-list Los Angeles studio musicians Glen Campbell and Leon Russell, Gene Clark With The Gosdin Brothers . . . [was] a glorious brew of ’60s folk-rock, proto-country-rock and complex, Beatlesque pop . . . .

https://www.nodepression.com/album-reviews/gene-clark-with-the-gosdin-brothers-self-titled/

Alex Stimmel concludes that:

The album contains a number of fine pop-oriented tunes and stellar folk-rock/country-rock numbers . . . a year before the Byrds’ Sweatheart of the Rodeo . . . . [It] failed to make much of an impact, perhaps due to its being released in the same week as the Byrds’ Younger Than Yesterday . . . . [The album] stands as the one of the best, if not the best, example of how powerful a singer, writer, and bandleader he was.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/gene-clark-with-the-gosdin-brothers-mw0000309530

Here is an alternate take:

Here is a cool version by Canada’s Tomorrows’ Keepsake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D4zC-MqMh0

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Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise

Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).

The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

654) Los Ovnis — “Te Doy Tu Lugar”/ (“I Give You Your Place”)

Raunchy ’68 album track from the first completely original Mexican rock album. Hectorvadair1 says that “[i]t’s a superb album of psych fuzz music, sung in Spanish, from a great Mexican band” (https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/los-ovnis/hippies/) and Spanish Pop Lyrics says “it’s arguably the most filthy and authentic sounding garage rock ever sung in Spanish.” (https://spanishpoplyrics.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/cuando-era-nino-by-los-ovnis/)

Light in the Attic Records says:

When we are talking about really rare and great albums from Mexico . . . Los Ovnis-Hippies is perhaps the second rarest one right after Kaleidoscope. . . . The 1968 Summer Of Love and the political protest of the young rebel culture created the desire to produce a stronger album with own songs, heavier garage sounds and counter-culture lyrics. This album became something the Mexican society in 1968 was not ready for. It was too idealistic and too psychedelic to become popular and the original label released it with no promotion at all. That’s why this album became so good and so rare. Los Ovnis are 5 musicians from Mexico City. Strong garage songs, great Spanish vocals, amazing guitars, organ and rough sounds. Like a musical punch right in the face of the Mexican middle-class society. No more nice guys.

https://lightintheattic.net/releases/1218-hippies

Gustavo Zamora gives us the history of the band:

In 1961 . . . singer and composer Armando Vázquez formed the “Teddy Bears” . . . .  In 1965, they changed their name to Los Ovnis . . . . In later LPs a fundamental element was present, [guitarist] Ernesto de Jesús de León Rodríguez . . . . [who] remembers . . .

“I was going to secondary school and I was about twelve years old . . . when rock and roll began to attract my attention. My greatest dream was to be able to play the guitar . . . .  I was already organizing my group called the “Flashes”, but we didn’t last long because they wanted to continue playing the waves of the Venturosos and I was fascinated by the “Liverpool Sound”, that was around 1963 . . . . I discovered that if I didn’t play the guitar I would die of sadness. That was when . . . I became part of the UFOs. . . .  We toured the interior of the country; I remember playing in football stadiums full of fans. . . . [W]e played daily, it necessarily had to evolve; there was work for all rock and roll players and there were girls more easily, the youth movement in general was very good. With the UFOs I participated in the recording of an original album that was around 1968, and although the album was good, it was not accepted because the public still did not like the original songs very much. Besides, inexplicably, the UFOs never gave the definitive growth spurt, despite being a very good group; also, since they were older than me, we could never fully understand each other. . . . [D]ue to many internal problems the group disintegrated. . . . In those years the hippie movement was emerging in San Francisco and from there it spread to the whole world. We fully identify with the movement and its ideals of peace, justice and love. . . . That is why we decided to record a rock album with original songs, which would reflect the mentality of the Mexican youth of those years and remain as a message for the new generations of young lovers of rock and roll”. 

https://estroncio90-typepad-com.translate.goog/blog/2009/08/cuando-era-ni%C3%B1o-rese%C3%B1a-de-los-ovnis.html?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc

Armando Vázquez recalls (by way of an internet translation):

When Discos Peers signed us as Los Ovnis in 1965 . . . now what we wanted was to make original music and not versions in Spanish, but the label just wanted us to continue making songs like ‘ Enrique VIII’ or ‘ Little Help from Mama’  who was from The Rolling Stones.  We gave them everything they wanted, because we even released three albums in less than a year, which were Los Ovnis, Somos Amantes and Napoleón XIV.  It wasn’t until I told the label that we were going to release an album with original songs with or without them, and that’s how Hippies came out. Even though they made us cover them, I only accepted ‘Light My Fire’ by The Doors.  So, look, it took eight years for us to finally get to the sound we wanted. . . . The best moment for the band was with Hippies , of course, it’s a record that I’m very proud of . . . .  However, when that record came out in 1968, the massacre of the students also occurred, and the record company told us that they were not going to put us on the radio or anything, because the President had vetoed anything young, anything rebellious.  That demotivated me a lot, that and the depressing atmosphere that was felt were the reasons that led me to leave the band and better finish my degree.

https://www.indierocks.mx/musica/entrevistas/entrevista-con-los-ovnis/

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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).

The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

653) Earth Island — “Ashes, Ashes, All Fall Down”

Another helping of stellar sunshine pop from Earth Island’s sole album (see #448). Ecologically-aware, but from when sunshine was still a good thing! The album is a “Sunshine Psychedelic gem”. (https://psychedelic-rocknroll.blogspot.com/2009/02/earth-island-we-must-survive.html)

By all accounts, Curt Boettcher (see #397, 506, 586) must have been sunlighting. Dr. Schluss says:

We Must Surivive . . . . seems to date a little past the expiry date of the genre, but the sounds are definitely the real deal and recall the better moments of Curt Boettcher’s and/or Gary Usher’s love fest freak outs. . . . I can’t help but note the strong environmental awareness aspect that crops up here the very same year as the first Earth Day (I think). . . . Forsaking straight up lead vocals, most of the songs rely on a weave of harmonies that compare favorably with just about anyone else. . . . Earth Island manages that tinge of melancholy that really takes the music to a higher level. 

http://psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com/2008/07/earth-island-1970-we-must-survive.html

Superbillie1 calls the album “[v]ery good Psych-lite with tinges of Pop and prog. [The] music [is[ on the same wavelength as The Millennium; light ‘airy’ sort of super-produced pop with (often) positive messages. For a few tracks I could’ve sworn the lead singer was Curt Boettcher . . . .” (http://poprunners.blogspot.com/2019/02/psychedelic-pop-earth-island-we-must.html)

And, finally, Adamus67:

Originally issued in June 1970 . . . at a time when rock music was beginning to embrace ecological themes, [the Earth Island’s] sole album was produced by Kim Fowley [see #89, 449]. Touching on rock, psychedelia and sunshine pop, it boasts fine vocal harmonies throughout . . . clearly bring to mind the best moments of creative collaboration such classics as Curt Boettcher psychedelia . . . and Gary Usher. 

(http://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2013/10/earth-island-we-must-survive-1970.html?m=1)

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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).

The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

652) Howard Tate — “Stop”

Soul great Howard Tate’s (see #259, 261) ‘68 not-quite hit (#76, #15 R&B) is a delightful romp. With the Jimi Hendrix seal of approval!

Richie Unterberger tells us that:

Howard Tate had some minor success with the Verve label in the late ’60s. The singer brought a lot of blues and gospel to his phrasing [and Jerry Ragovoy brought] the Northeast soul production [and] also wrote much of Tate’s material. Howard made the R&B Top 20 three times in the late ’60s (with “Ain’t Nobody Home,” “Stop,” and “Look at Granny Run Run”). However, he’s most famous to rock audiences as the original performer of “Get It While You Can,” which became one of Janis Joplin’s signature tunes. . . . Tate sang with the Gainers, a North Philadelphia doo wop group that also included future soul star Garnet Mimms. . . . Ragovoy was urged to check out Tate by [one] of . . . Mimms’ backup singers. He recorded about ten singles with Tate between 1966 and 1969 . . . . Although an enduring figure in the soul genre, Tate’s music has received its greatest exposure via cover versions: Jimi Hendrix and Hugh Masekela did “Stop[]” . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/howard-tate-mn0000280445/biography

Joel Rose says that “Ragovoy told me . . . . ‘The potential of [Tate’s] range was extraordinary. . . . I thought that Howard was maybe the only artist that I heard who could execute what I had in my mind as a writer.'” (https://www.wunc.org/2011-12-05/howard-tate-soul-singer-dies-at-72)

Rose also talks of the tragedy and triumph of Tate’s later years:

Tate walked away from the music business in the 1970s and got a job selling insurance. Tragedy struck his family . . . when his 13-year-old daughter died in a house fire. Tate’s marriage fell apart, and he turned to cocaine . . . . For about a decade, Tate lived on the streets of Camden, New Jersey . . . . [I]n 1994, Tate checked himself into a rehab clinic . . . . was born again. . . . [and] started working as a preacher. After 2003, Tate enjoyed a second career, recording a handful of albums and playing to appreciative crowds around the world . . . .

https://www.wunc.org/2011-12-05/howard-tate-soul-singer-dies-at-72

Here, Tate sings “Stop” live in 2008:

Here is Jimi:

Buddy Miles, the drummer for Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys, talks about “Stop”:

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Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).

The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

651) Gandalf — “Me About You”

A dreamy, phantasmagorical, and totally psyched-out version of “Me About You” (a demo offered to them by Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon of the Magicians), which was later a failed single for the Turtles (reaching #105 in ’70). For Gandalf’s history, see #458.

As to Gandalf’s lone album, Emilie Friedlander suggests that:

[W]hat they left behind is probably one of the most visionary cover albums in the history of pop. . . . “visionary” in the sense of re-investment, as though these songs — songs we’ve already heard a hundred times before — had suddenly become re-possessed by the ghosts of their true authors. . . . Gandalf is one of those albums that has an almost synesthetic effect on its listeners, filling every room which it’s played with a kind of heavy, perfumed fog. Peter Sando’s wind-kissed, reverb-dripping tenor is perhaps most responsible for this effect. . . . Gandalf is one sexy record. Fuzz guitar, Hammond B3, electric sitar, vibraphone, and chunky, equally reverb-saturated bass ground Sando’s voice in a kind of clipped, baroque accompaniment, voluptuous in its restraint. . . .

http://rockasteria.blogspot.com/2014/12/gandalf-gandalf-1969-us-superb-psych.html?m=1

Here are the Turtles:

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

650) The Redcoats — “Words of Wisdom”

Wonderful contemplative Beatlesque song by a NJ garage band that wanted to write wonderful Beatlesque songs. Richie Unterberger says that it “fall[s] squarely into the Beatles’ 1967 mode of bouncy, mid-tempo keyboard-dominated tunes and optimistic, cosmic-tinged lyrics.”(https://www.allmusic.com/album/meet-the-redcoats-finally-mw0000587837) While the song wasn’t publicly released until 2001, and it sounds like it was sung by John (Lennon, that is), I still cling to the belief that it inspired Paul to write “Let It Be”!

As to the Redcoats, Chris Bishop tells us that:

John Sprit decided to form a band in imitation of the Beatles, based around his songwriting. With . . . John on drums and his friend Mike Burke on lead guitar, they spotted Zach and Randy Bocelle of Absecon, NJ at an audition, and brought them in to fill the ‘roles’ of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, respectively, on rhythm guitar, bass and lead vocals. After intensive rehearsals in John Sprit’s family home in Wildwood, NJ, the Redcoats signed with Laurie for a 45 in the style of Herman’s Hermits, “The Dum Dum Song” / “Love Unreturned”, which did fairly well on a local level. It was released in October, 1965.

https://garagehangover.com/statesiders/

Unterberger adds that:

[They] were an extremely Beatlesque band that formed in Wildwood, NJ, in 1964. Just one single . . . was released on a small New York label. However, those two tracks and ten other songs were issued on Meet the Redcoats! Finally [in 2001]. Comprised wholly of original material, the material is pretty fair pseudo-Beatles in both their Merseybeat and Magical Mystery Tour phases, not to mention their Revolver and Beatles for Sale ones, too.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/redcoats-mn0001777865

In ‘66, the band (by then going by the Sidekicks) had a #55 hit with “Suspicions”.

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

649) Wool — “Love, Love, Love, Love, Love”

’69 A-side and album track is super funky rock, a “vocal tour-de-force” (Psych-spaniolos, https://psychspaniolos.blogspot.com/2009/07/wool-wool-1969.html) from an album that’s “a super tight blend of psych-rock, pop, and funk.” (K. Kanitz, http://therisingstorm.net/wool-wool/) I think this song was just too far ahead of its time. The Talking Heads would’ve had a romp with it.

Psych-spaniolos says that “Syracuse, New York was the stomping ground for this R’n’B/blues-influenced combo dominated by vocalist Ed Wool, whose strong raucous style could be compared to Eric Burdon . . . .(https://psychspaniolos.blogspot.com/2009/07/wool-wool-1969.html)

As to the band’s history, Ed Wool and the Nomads begat the Sure Cure, which begat the Pineapple Heard, which begat Wool. K. Kanitz tells us that:

Ed Wool and The Nomads were huge in the mid-60s’ thriving Northern/Upstate New York music scene, even sharing the stage with bands such as Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, The (Young) Rascals, and The Rolling Stones. . . . [A]s “The Pineapple Heard,” Ed’s group even had the chance to be the first group to record the Boyce & Hart tune “Valleri” in 1967, a year before The Monkees had a hit with it. That single, released on the tiny Diamond label, again, flopped. Starting circa 1968, Ed Wool finally settled with a new and final line-up, which included his younger sister Claudia on vocals . . . . [T]he[ir only] album went virtually unnoticed nationally, and scored at the very bottom of the Billboard Top 200. In Upstate/Northern NY, the album was a hit, with several of the tunes being played constantly on local radio stations. . . .

http://therisingstorm.net/wool-wool/

As far as I know, Ed Wool is not related to Ed Wood.

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

648) The Kirkbys — “It’s a Crime”

This is where it all started for Jimmy Campbell, who was responsible for the 23rd Turnoff’s “Michael Angelo” (see #22), the most sublime psychedelic masterpiece of the 60’s, and so much more. I need to do a special edition focusing on this extraordinary and underappreciated artist who really is, as Get into This says, “[t]he greatest songwriter you’ve never heard of.” (https://www.getintothis.co.uk/2019/06/lost-liverpool-25-jimmy-campbell-the-greatest-songwriter-youve-never-heard-of/)

In any event, it’s a crime that “It’s a Crime” didn’t chart. It is a freakbeat masterpiece with a killer riff.

Jimmy joined a group called the Tuxedos in the late 1950s and in 1961 they changed their name to the Panthers. . . . The group decided to turn professional in 1964 [as the Kirkbys] and at one time were managed by Brian Epstein’s former secretary, Beryl Adams. The group had their first single, “It’s a Crime” . . . penned by Jimmy, issued in Finland in 1966, a country in which they had a large following.

http://triumphpc.com/mersey-beat/a-z/jcampbell.shtml

But, where did the name the Kirkby’s come from? Vernon Joynson tells us that:

This Liverpool band was first known as The Panthers who revolved around Jimmy Campbell who then formed 23rd Turnoff (named after a motorway junction) before doing solo work. Bob Wooler of Cavern fame actually gave the band the name Kirbys during a live radio Luxembourg recording at the Cavern Club. He suggested that the band may gain support from all the people of Kirby if they used such a name. Actually at that time all the band members (except for Marooth) lived in Kirby, which is on the outskirts of Liverpool.

(The Tapestry of Delights Revisited)

Here’s the demo:

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

647) Buzzy Linhart — “Everybody’s Got (And Don’t You Know)”

A rocking plea for people to just get along with each other by a beloved artist (for those who knew him) (see #346). Joe Viglione says that Linhart veers off into Donovan Leitch’s swimming pool; to be specific, he’s vamping on the riff from Donovan’s ‘Atlantis’ inside this tune.” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/music-mw0000846476) As to the album, Music, by Buzzy’s band Music, Viglione says it “is a solid effort boasting a heavier sound than Linhart’s other solo efforts . . . . [ T]he charm and band identity giv[e] all the melodies on Music a solid spirit that comes from a group effort when everything is clicking”. (https://www.allmusic.com/album/music-mw0000846476)

As to Buzzy, Jim Farber observes that:

[He was] a whimsically eccentric singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose compositions were recorded by Bette Midler, Carly Simon and others . . . . The anthemic “(You Got to Have) Friends,” written by Mr. Linhart and Moogy Klingman, became Ms. Midler’s unofficial theme song . . . . [even sung] by the Muppets, in a duet with the actress Candice Bergen, and by Eddie Murphy’s donkey character in . . . “Shrek.” On his own, Mr. Linhart wrote the shimmering ballad “The Love’s Still Growing,” which closed Ms. Simon’s Debut album . . . . Mr. Linhart was a prominent figure on [the 1960s Greenwich Village folk] scene. He was also a busy session musician in the ’60s . . . . His compositions, included on a clutch of albums released mostly in the early to mid-’70s, sifted elements of folk, jazz, blues, ragas and psychedelic rock into a highly animated mix. Mr. Linhart[] . . . . tended to sing, or scat, wildly around a melody, offering zany screams along the way. He was also known for his manic live performances.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/arts/music/buzzy-linhart-dead.html

Here’s Donovan:

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

646) William E./Quentin E. Klopjaeger & the Gonks — “Lazy Life”

This lovely and lilting ‘67 A-side is one of the great ‘60’s paeans to chilling, along with such songs as the Beatles’ “I’m Only Sleeping” and Spanky and Our Gang’s “Lazy Day”. “Lazy Life” was justly a hit in South Africa and Australia, but went unfairly unnoticed in the U.S. and the UK. It was written by Gordon Haskell, guitarist for the great UK psych band Les Fleur De Lys (see #32, 122). Just call it E.-asy listening.

The liner notes to the Piccadilly Sunshine comp tell us that:

South African-born . . . Bill Kimber (real name William Charles Boardman) fronted a London band by the name of The Couriers in 1965. Upon meeting with Johannesburg-born producer Frank Fenter, the group relocated to South Africa appearing in a film that was to mirror the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. . . . Come 1967, Kimber departed from the Couriers to seek his fortune with a solo career. This new lease on life resulted in a handful of singles for Parlophone as William E. Kimber including two minor hits . . . . Lazy Life [not a minor hit] . . . was issued by Polydor . . . .

(liner notes to Piccadilly Sunshine: A Compendium of Rare Pop Curios from the British Psychedelic Era; Volumes 1-10)

From there it gets a bit complicated. BobbyM explains that:

As best as I can trace the history of “Lazy Life” — written by Gordon Haskell of the UK band Fleur de Lys but apparently not recorded.
— Billy Forrest hears the song while on a trip to London. Forrest was a friend of South African singer, Sharon Tandy, who was residing in England at the time & she was often backed by Fleur De Lys.
— Billy Forrest produces the recording of the song by the South African band, The Gonks. However, after the backing track is recorded, the band decided it didn’t fit their image & abandons the song.
— Forrest records vocals & releases the song as by “Quenin E. Klopjaeger & the Gonks”. Later South African releases will only credit “Quenin E. Klopjaeger”. I don’t know the release date, but it didn’t peak in South Africa until June 1968 when it reached #1.
— “Lazy Life” is released in the UK as by William E; I can’t confirm if it’s the same recording as above or not.

https://rec.music.rock-pop-r-b.1960s.narkive.com/gOPOcscW/lazy-life-versions-william-e-and-quentin-e-klopjaeger-za

After the song was a hit in South Africa, it was recorded by the Australian band Heart & Soul and was a hit down under in ‘69.

Here is William E.:

Here is Quentin E. Klopjaeger & the Gonks. I think it is the same recording:

Here is Heart & Soul:

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The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

645) Duffy Power — “I Saw Her Standing There” (alternate version)

What a wild, happening ’63 cover of “I Saw Her Standing There” by the great Duffy Power (see #638). Duffy’s first take is even better than his A-side, but the Beatles told him it was “too jazzy”! Well, it is gloriously jazzy, in a Austin Powers/Quincy Jones “Soul Bossa Nova” sort of way. Yeah, baby!

Colin Harper:

[Duffy] recorded I Saw Her Standing There on 20 February 1963, [and] he was only the second artist to cover Lennon/McCartney on record. At that time [they] were trying to establish themselves as songwriters for other artists already considered successful and had written the song with him in mind. Duffy was backed by the Graham Bond Quartet, including John McLaughlin (guitar), Jack Bruce (bass) and Ginger Baker (drums) . . . . When word came back that “the boys” found it “too jazzy”, it was re-recorded, toned down, a month later. The group, plus Duffy, toured together and guested on the BBC radio show Pop Go the Beatles.

https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/27/duffy-power

Bruce Eder adds that “the most impressive aspect of the recording, given its early date, was Power and the band’s thorough reinvention of song, a strong hint of just how much talent and ambition resided behind that fading teen idol persona.” (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/duffy-power-mn0000120231)

Here is the single:

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

644) Omega — “Tűzvihar”/(“Firestorm”)

Another sizzling, forró number from Hungary’s greatest rock band. Sorry, this one wasn’t adopted by the Scorpions (see #195), but it is nevertheless a “devastating hard boogie[]” (Soviet Sam, http://sovietsam.blogspot.com/2013/09/omega-10000-lepes-1969.html?m=1), “a psychedelic blues based hard rock song which describes the story of a raging wildfire which ravages the country”. (MusicStack, https://www.musicstack.com/item/17313035)

As to Omega, Yuri German tells us:

The most successful Hungarian rock band in history, Omega was formed in 1962 in Budapest by a group of friends. . . . As with many other rock groups of the early ’60s, the band’s repertory largely consisted of songs by popular British bands of the period. Only in 1967, when they were joined by Gábor Presser (keyboards, vocals), did they began recording their own songs and issuing a few singles. Presser’s mixture of rock with elements of jazz and folk proved to be a winning formula. In 1968, John Martin, the manager of the Spencer Davis Group, invited them for a tour in Great Britain . . . . The band sealed their success with two subsequent LPs [including] 10,000 lépés (10,000 Steps) (1969) [from which today’s song is taken]. Their 1969 song “Gyöngyhajú lány” (The Girl with Pearls in Her Hair) became their first international hit and was later reworked by the Scorpions into “White Dove” in the mid-’90s.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/omega-mn0001073347

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THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

643) Barbara Lewis — “Baby That’s a No No”

Here is a late career classic that should have been a single, should have been a hit! Barbara grew up near Ann Arbor, Michigan, my home for law school. The Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame notes that she was discovered by former Ann Arbor disc jockey Ollie McLaughlin and that she is ranked “second to only Aretha Franklin in terms of chart success for female solo artists from the state of Michigan”. (https://michiganrockandrolllegends.com/index.php/mrrl-hall-of-fame/298-barbara-lewis)

“No No” appeared on Barbara’s ‘70 album for the Stax subsidiary Enterprise Records. Richie Unterberger says that:

Although this late-’60s album isn’t nearly as well known as Barbara Lewis’ poppier mid-’60s hits, this is excellent sweet soul that avoids slickness. . . . Lewis recorded this set of strong soul-pop in Chicago.

[The album] gave her sound a grittier approach, without compromising the smooth and poppy elements integral to the singer’s appeal. It passed mostly unnoticed . . . .

https://www.allmusic.com/album/many-grooves-of-barbara-lewis-mw0000092068, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/barbara-lewis-n0000123132

As Unterberger rightly proclaims, “[p]op-soul doesn’t get much better than Barbara Lewis, whose seductive, emotive croon took ‘Hello Stranger’ to number three in 1963.”(https://www.allmusic.com/artist/barbara-lewis-mn0000123132)

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